Success with Groupon

This article addresses 2 ways that could quadruple the return on your investment in Groupon, LivingSocial or other coupon offer.  As a quick take-away, if you are doing any form of couponing and are not collecting the contact information of those that walk through your door, start today. 

If it makes you feel any better you are not alone.  After personally using over 200 Groupon offers in the St. Louis area, not one business has asked me for my contact information.

Restaurants and retailers will benefit more than other businesses because each Groupon market issues 2-4 restaurant coupons per week and people will not return without an incentive or at least reminder you exist.  Sorry to say but it has nothing to do with you, your food, service or decor.  It’s the mere fact that with all those great restaurant coupons on offer almost daily, how could anyone redeem that many offers then find the time or money to return to their favorites?  Well they cannot which means they don’t, especially if you do not give them a solid reason to return.

Well all is not lost and you can certainly swing matters in your favor.  First, and most important, GET THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION.  I am actually to the point of livid how many restaurants I visited that offered a Groupon and not one has asked me for my contact information.  This is just paramount in leveraging the very expensive marketing investment they made in Groupon.  I would suggest using text messaging as the channel to capture contacts because the majority are using their phone to redeem the coupon anyway.  Just think, when they subscribe  you could reply back with an immediate offer and you do not need to ask them to write down their details and waste time later entering it into your database if you can even read their writing.  But whatever channel of communication you choose, email, postal address or phone number just get one or more; and that is non-negotiable.

Think about it, Groupon drove 100′s or 1,000′s of people to your establishment who are basically saying they like new experiences and are definitely motivated by savings.  These people are not cheap they are just like you and like a deal.  So guess what happens when you get their contact information.  Yes you can offer another coupon to get them back and this time keep 100% of the proceeds for yourself.  Groupon does not tell you this because they want you to use them again, and again.  Believe it or not, I think you should use Groupon again to gain even more exposure to new customers but once again make sure you can get back in touch with them.

I know Groupon’s policy prohibits them from sharing the contact information of those that purchased your coupon.  However I am not sure if Groupon shares demographic information of those same people, and if they do not then shame on them.  I will assume they do not so the next valuable thing you can do is capture more information than just the contact details.  As you will see some of these items are not questions you need to ask but observations.  These are important details to write down because you may be surprised by what you learn about the type of customer that frequents your place and how you can use that information to your advantage.

If you want to know why this is critical then read this prior blog post because the success of any marketing depends on these 3 points.

Male/Female, approximate age, address or zip where they live, what intrigued them to purchase your coupon, what did they like following their visit, their favorite local magazine/newspaper or website.  Armed with this information on 500 new customers you now have insight on who you are trying to reach, where to advertise, what to offer, etc.

To read more on this subject, pick up books that have to do with customer service.  If you are a small business owner and laughing as much as I am by even suggesting that advice then implement the two critical points above and go make some money.  Those two suggestions alone will greatly improve your ability to succeed with Groupon and deliver these immediate benefits:

• Generate repeat business
• Gives you more information to target your customers
• Provides you new ideas for your marketing efforts
• Builds a new, important marketing database

70% of the people we surveyed independently said they would be open to receiving coupons via text.  So what are you waiting for.

Besides a book, I have found this article “Groupon Nightmares” provides addition tips on how to make your social coupon offer a success.  Do not let these nightmares eliminate you from running an offer.  Just learn from the experiences and set yourself up for success.

One strategy to consider when comprising your coupon offer, make the value of the coupon slightly less than the cost of an average visit.  If someone spends on average $10 for lunch then offer an $8 Groupon for $4.  This way your margin will improve with every visit, and if they bring a friend to dine with them, even better.

Now it’s your turn.  Comment on your experiences or questions with your coupon offers.  Plus do not hesitate to contact me about our GPlus service if you do not have the time or resources to implement either of the two suggestions above, avoidthedart @ mobilemarketinginstitute.com (spaces between @ sign need to be removed).